Whom Shall I Send – Isaiah 6

I came across three definitions of “defining moment”: 1) a point at which the essential nature or character of a person, group, etc., is revealed or identified, 2) the time that shows very clearly what something is really about, and 3) an event which typifies or determines all subsequent related occurrences. 9/11 was a defining moment, as people have shared. The onslaught of the coronavirus is another defining moment. Isaiah had a defining moment.

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;    keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’  Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said:

“Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, and the LORD removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump. (Isaiah 6 ESV)

Isaiah had a vision from Yahweh of Him on a throne in the heavenly  temple, the holy of holies, the place where the ark of the covenant in the earthly version of the temple represents God’s throne.  Instead of the cherubim (angels who overshadow the ark of the covenant) there were seraphim (also angels, but perhaps of another rank).  They worshiped Yahweh of Hosts calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy,” a possible reference to God’s triunity.

When Isaiah sees, hears and feels this magnificent vision he recognizes how sinful he is and how unworthy to be in God’s presence and pronounces woe upon himself.  But God cleanses him through an action of a seraph touching his lips with a burning coal from the altar.  This represents the consequence of sacrifice in Isaiah’s place, the way God atones for sin.

Then Yahweh gives Isaiah a call to be His prophet, which Isaiah submits to.  The message Yahweh will have Isaiah proclaim to Israel is, unhappily, that they will not be able to respond to God’s calls for repentance until God sends the destruction He has planned for His people, the invasion by foreign armies and the exile of many Israelites.  This was the ultimate punishment God predicted would fall upon Israel for her waywardness (Deuteronomy 28).

The rest of Isaiah spells this out in more detail.  God always uses His spokesmen to warn His people, and there are those, the remnant, who will hear when all the others won’t. If you are a believer, you are both the remnant and a spokesman for God, calling the world to repentance, even though many will not heed. Proclaim in the assurance of cleansing by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Discussion Questions

1. When have you felt compelled by what you see to worship?
2. No one but the priests were allowed into the holy place of the temple. What do you think your attitude would have been if it had been you to whom God gave this vision?
3. Why, when we serve the Lord, is it important to see and understand just how sinful we ourselves are?
4. How would you feel about telling the Lord, “Here I am, I’ll do whatever You want me to do”?
5. What if you preach the gospel over and over and no one responds in faith?
6. Is there someone to whom you need to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ?